Boston Council Explores Public Tool-Lending Libraries to Reduce Waste and Cost

BOSTON — October 21, 2024 — Boston City Council explores tool-lending libraries modeled on Chicago's $2 million savings program. Councillor Enrique J. Pepén chaired a Monday hearing of the Committee on City Services and Innovation Technology on Docket No. 1210, which would create publicly accessible tool-lending libraries for Boston residents. Tessa Vierk, executive director of the Chicago Tool Library — one of the largest in the world — testified virtually that her five-year-old nonprofit has saved Chicago residents more than $2 million in tool costs across roughly 9,000 users, crediting open-source inventory software as the essential backbone of operations. Melissa Andrews, chief of collection management for the Boston Public Library, said the library's own Library of Things pilot has already drawn more than 90 public suggestions, with sewing machines topping 20 percent of requests. Nate Lash of the Mayor's Office of New Urban Mechanics warned that two prior city lending pilots collapsed without dedicated software and staffing. Councillor Edward M. Flynn pressed for a nonprofit-based neighborhood pilot, while Councillor Erin J. Murphy flagged the risk of commercial exploitation of city-owned tools — a concern Vierk said Chicago's experience shows to be largely self-correcting.